So What’s Season Six Of ‘American Horror Story’ Going To Be, Anyway?

When I first heard that Ryan Murphy and FX were keeping American Horror Story‘s Season Six theme under wraps, I was on board. “This will be a fun little marketing stunt that will will last a couple of weeks,” I naively thought. Surely, no one could keep the theme of one of the biggest, sexiest dramas with some of the most obsessive fans a secret for over a month and a half. I was wrong. The first Season Six promo was released in late July, and we are now two days from its premiere, still clueless.

Typically, here’s how the American Horror Story ecosystem works: Murphy and the cast release titillating details about the new anthology season in the weeks before a season’s premiere. By this time of the year, we typically know what the season is going to be about, which of Murphy’s faves are starring in it, and what insane characters we can expect to marvel at or cry over. It’s fun for all ages, as long as those ages delight in stylized horror. Want to know what we know right now? Nothing. Or at least what we know feels like nothing. The AHS team has actually let a few details slip, just enough to make us want to pull our collective hair out. To get you ready for Season Six’s premiere, here’s everything we know about American Horror Story so far:

Almost every season of American Horror Story has played with time in some way, but the fact Landgraf felt this was an important enough detail to share may point to time playing a bigger role in this upcoming season. The key point is that he mentioned two time periods, possibly implying that some big event that happened in the past may have lasting consequences on AHS’ future. Or maybe I’m taking the two timeline thing too seriously, and it’s a lot more nuanced than I’m making it sound.

We already know the theme.

FX released a slew of trailers for this upcoming season, but as Landgraf told us weeks ago, only one is correct. Here’s his full quote for you to dissect in its entirety:

“One is accurate; all the rest are misdirects. We decided, Ryan [Murphy] and I and [marketing president] Stephanie Gibbons, that it would be really fun this year…to keep it a mystery. There is a theme and a setting and a place and time, but we’re not going to reveal it.”

We can thank TMZ for this one. Earlier this summer, the site released set photos that showed a 16th century farm and also reported seeing cast members dressed in colonial clothing. But the big clue was that the word “croatoan” was carved into a tree.

Here’s your background: the Roanoke Colony was Queen Elizabeth I’s attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in the 16th century. It was located in North Carolina and founded by Sir Walter Raleigh. When John White was ordered to travel back to Roanoke to deliver supplies and check on the colony, he and his men found nothing except one skeleton. For reasons unknown, White’s commander forced his men to re-establish the colony in Roanoke, and 115 colonists were left behind to do just that. In 1590, White returned yet again, and again, there was no colony — just the word “CROATOAN” carved into a fence post. To this day, no one knows why the colonists left or where they went. It sounds like the perfect mystery for this over-the-top show.

Also, adding to the theory that every season of AHS is connected, the word “Croatoan” has been mentioned before in the series. As TV Guide points out, Violet (Taissa Farmiga) tried to use the word to banish Chad’s (Zachary Quinto) ghost.

Get ready for creepy kids.

Murphy has said that this season is going to feature “elements of children,” which is definitely more of a Children of the Corn promise than Stranger Things. It’s unclear how kids are going to be featured. They could just be used as part of flashbacks, or they may be main characters. But no matter what they are, I’m sure they’ll be creepy devil children. So far these are the children Murphy has created for AHS: the stitched together and demonic Infantata, failed abortion and perpetual infant Bartholomew, the Countess’ vampire brood, and the literal Antichrist. So yeah. Murphy + kids = nightmares.

Also, in the same interview, Murphy mentioned that Season Six is going to be juggling two concepts at once in a way the show has never done before. That ties back into Landgraf’s two timeline revelation. Interesting.

Your faves are coming back.

Though we don’t know who they’re playing or how many episodes they’re going to be in, we know a lot of actors who are going to appear in this new season, including Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Lady Gaga, Angela Bassett, Matt Bomer, Kathy Bates, Finn Wittrock, Wes Bentley, Cheyenne Jackson, Denis O’Hare, and Leslie Jordan. There have also been rumors that Emma Roberts and People v. O.J. star Cuba Gooding Jr. may also make appearances. However, Bassett has been the only actress who has given any hints about her character. In an interview with EW, she said her character was “intuitive” and that Sarah Paulson is the boss of her.

Lady Gaga is definitely in this.

Murphy invited Gaga to return to the series for Season Six in 2015, so we knew for sure that Gaga was returning. However, this season’s latest promo, set to Gaga’s “Perfect Illusion,” has us feeling confident the pop goddess is going to play a bigger role than we originally thought. “Perfect Illusion” just dropped on Friday, so the release of the promo feels like it’s speaking directly to Gag’s role.

EDUCATED GUESSING

We may know more about Season Two’s aliens.

By far one of the tightest, most shocking, and most compelling seasons was Asylum, save for one glaring plot hole: those aliens. Just like that Indiana Jones movie we shall not speak of, Asylum ended by adding aliens and robot alien spiders to a season packed with serial killers, demonic possession, crazy people, human experimentation, and weirdly catchy musical numbers. The season was already too full, but that alien addition really sent it over the edge. However, one of AHS Season Six’s planted trailers features the same robo-alien spiders as Season Two. Maybe we’ll finally get closure.

We have a season name…?

Last week, Rotten Tomatoes and TV Guide accidentally leaked the name of this season — American Horror Story: The Mist. Unless mist is somehow connected to Murphy’s reasoning for Roanoke’s disappearance, it’s not helpful. Every other AHS season has given a relatively clear theme in its title: Murder House (murder), Asylum (crazy people), Coven (witches), Freak Show (circus people), Hotel (sleazy sex stuff). The Mist is just vague and confusing. Also, since the series has been so intentionally deceptive this year, I’m taking every “leak” with a grain of salt.

If “The Mist” is a real leak, then we’ve already seen the trailer.

AHS‘s “The Mist” trailer features a mutated humanoid creature creepily limping along train tracks. Honestly, it looks like something from Dead Space. Maybe there’s some sort of evil alien mist that mutates people before dissolving them? And that’s how the Roanoke colony disappeared? Or maybe the actual villain of all of AHS is Stephen King? Just spitballing here.

Charles Manson and cults are making an appearance.

Though we can’t exactly trust those promos, there was an overwhelming cult vibe to most of them, and that’s a faction of creepiness Murphy hasn’t yet touched. Also, New York Daily News uncovered some set photos that included a Manson doppleganger. Even is the cult leader is just going to make a brief appearance like the dinner of serial killers in Hotel, he’s definitely doing something.

This season is going to further cement the theory that every season is connected.

Every season of American Horror Story is connected. That’s not mere fan speculation. That is creator-approved fact, which is why we have so often seen the same actors as well as the same characters. However, at least one Season Six promotion has been more overt about this connection than any other season, which leads me to believe we’re going to be able to connect a lot more dots. It’s time to break out out conspiracy theory boards.

It looks like we won’t have a clear answer for what this new season will be until it premieres. Well played, American Horror Story. We’ll be watching.

Season Six of American Horror Story premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT on FX and FXNOW. New episodes will premiere every Wednesday.